Re: best antivirus for android?

Originally Posted by tythom

I know this questions has come up and been answered, probably by those that make antivirus apps... however with the ever changing face of Android and new companies creating new apps all the time, is there a way to know what is the best antivirus app? also, what about having multiple antivirus apps on your phone, kinda like the top two to make sure you are really protected? yeah, I am one of those paranoid people new to android

I have been using Android devices since the original Droid 1 in 2009. I have never gotten a single virus, despite ROMing and Sideloading on many different devices. I know dozens of friends and family with Android devices as well (which I am the defacto support for)...none of them has ever had a virus either.

All Android devices ship with security on by default. This means nothing can install on your phone that does not come from the official google market. You'd have to deliberately go into Settings and disable this in order to install anything likely to have a virus.

Not saying viruses don't exist...just that they obviously are not that common, especially if you are using the official google market. So one Anti-virus app is plenty and maybe even too much IMO. The only way I even know Android viruses exist at all is because of online media. I have never encountered one in real life.

Re: best antivirus for android?

Originally Posted by JeffDenver

I have been using Android devices since the original Droid 1 in 2009. I have never gotten a single virus, despite ROMing and Sideloading on many different devices. I know dozens of friends and family with Android devices as well (which I am the defacto support for)...none of them has ever had a virus either.

That's my experience, too.

Originally Posted by JeffDenver

All Android devices ship with security on by default. This means nothing can install on your phone that does not come from the official google market. You'd have to deliberately go into Settings and disable this in order to install anything likely to have a virus.

That's what I don't understand about anti-virus programs for Android as well. You have to purposefully bypass security to get a virus, so what's the point in adding security if you're willing to bypass existing security to install apps?

Re: best antivirus for android?

Originally Posted by garublador

That's what I don't understand about anti-virus programs for Android as well. You have to purposefully bypass security to get a virus, so what's the point in adding security if you're willing to bypass existing security to install apps?

Well, the chances of getting a virus are ridiculously remote, but not zero. There have been viruses on app in the google market before. Even on the Apple App store. It's just so rare that it's unlikely you'll ever encounter them.

But I have been whoring around seedy virus-prone areas outside the Market for years and have never got one. So I imagine the chances a normal user will get one are pretty remote.

Re: best antivirus for android?

Originally Posted by JeffDenver

Well, the chances of getting a virus are ridiculously remote, but not zero. There have been viruses on app in the google market before. Even on the Apple App store. It's just so rare that it's unlikely you'll ever encounter them.

The thing is that Google already does a scan on all apps. According to that article, less than 0.001% of apps are able to bypass all of Google's defenses. That means that for every million apps in the app store, less than 10 are able to do that. First you'd practically have to specifically search for a malicious app to actually find one. It's not like one of the apps is Instagram or Dolphin. It's something super obscure that no one knows about or it would already be flagged. Besides, that, what could these anti-virus apps do to bring that number down from 10? Do they really have databases of malicious threats that are significantly better than what Google has to where Google wouldn't flag one of the 10 apps, but the anti-virus app would? How are the anti-virus app makers getting the data for what to flag faster than Google?

It's one of those things where the current security is so good that the only way to significantly improve it is for the user to avoid potentially dangerous apps. No anti-virus will be absolutely perfect, and 10ppm is already a really low number, so there isn't much, if any, room for improvement.

I agree with the lost or stolen comment, too. That's a much larger concern.

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